Structural and Functional Abnormalities in the Preterm Heart: From Development to Adulthood

Preterm infants with structurally normal hearts have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease in adulthood when compared with term infants with structurally normal hearts. A milieu of factors are implicated in these patients' cardiovascular morbidity and mortality: supraphysiologic/subphysiologic exposure to oxygen, disrupted cellular architecture, changes in extracellular matrix composition, abnormal cardiomyocyte mitochondria number and function, immature sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum, and increased exposure to surgical procedural stress (among other mechanisms to be reviewed herein). Heightened cardiovascular risk merits clinical surveillance. Current technologies, like blood pressure monitoring, lipid panel testing, echocardiography, and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, can identify abnormalities in these patients. Best practice guidelines vary on the identification of premature birth as a significant risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality that should impact patient management. Obesity in these patients may confer heightened risk, and merits further study. Education on cardiovascular risk reduction should be standard of care when counseling the family of a child with a history of prematurity.